A Theoretical Protector
by GRINtelligencer
Summary: No matter how much Break tries to put him safely out of the way Liam always refuses to sit down and be protected. 50 sentence challenge, Break/Liam mixed with friendship.


**A Theoretical Protector**

**Rating:** T

**Summery: **No matter how much Break tries to put him safely out of the way Liam always refuses to sit down and be protected. 50 sentence challenge, Break/Liam mixed with friendship.

**Characters/Pairings:** Break/Liam, Barma, Sharon, Vincent,

**Comments:** This is the first 50 sentence challenge I've done where I didn't cheat, didn't rearrange the words, and didn't throw my hands in the air at the end and mess with the last few prompts I was stuck on. I feel sort of proud. The exception is word number forty-two, which I somehow lost along the way. These range from all over in the manga but a lot of them have to do with the Isla Yura party, since that's been so important to the Liam and Break relationship. As always please tell me which sentences you liked best.

**Spoilers:** Up to Retrace 58.

* * *

Liam Lunettes

Xerxes Break

1) Air

Liam gave off the air of being generally annoyed while he was around Break but that was only when there were others present, when it was just the two of them there was the sense of a performance dropped like, for a few brief moments, the act was put on pause.

2) Apples

The plate of apples that Liam put on his bedside table were a testament to the fact that he must not have been _too_ angry that Break hadn't told him right off that his vision was fading; and if he had been angry he probably wouldn't have said as he put the plate down, "You need to eat something healthier than cake, you know."

3) Beginning

Liam was beginning to suspect that there was more to Break's story than what he had revealed in front of Lord Barma, but it would have been unlike Break to tell the whole story anyway, so he was quiet about it and waited until the time that he could get Break to tell him the rest.

4) Bugs

There was a bug in Xerxes Break's carefully constructed system of using the people who would use him in return and that bug went by the name of Liam Lunettes; there was no explaining the flaw, the imperfection, but for some reason, he was always glad it was there -it proved he was still human.

5) Coffee

As if he felt guilty for the additional load his blindness heaped on Liam's already mountainous pile of work Break was want to show up in Liam's office at odd hours of the morning with two cups of hot, bitter coffee in hand and absolutely not excuse for being there.

6) Dark

Strangely enough Liam was very familiar with the story of Kevin Regnard, he had actually written a research compilation on the man for Pandora some years ago, but the tale took on a decidedly darker, more personal air with Break as the main character; suddenly one hundred and sixteen people meant a whole lot more than it had before the visit to Duke Barma.

7) Despair

Only when alone did Liam let himself despair for the future -the long term future that he usually tried not to think of- when he was around Break the future seemed a long way off, nothing to worry about now; but alone he could see that there was no good, or even pretty, to the end the two of them where heading toward.

8) Doors

Break had all those secrets locked behind doors and doors, tucked away where no one would find them; but Liam had a habit of opening doors if only just to see what was behind them and he found out things far more quickly than Break ever could have expected.

9) Drink

Liam threw the empty bottle of alcohol at Break, "You… and your stupid… secrets… good thing… I love… you…"

10) Duty

With the mysterious Duty pulling him forward Break was sometimes hard to keep with, Liam often found himself having to rush to catch up; and to keep Xerxes from doing something utterly _stupid_ in the name of his damned Quest.

Earth

At the sound of Liam's voice -alive, so very alive, he had believed that it wasn't possible- Break came back down to earth so hard his head spun with impact and old habits that that voice had helped coaxed away -despair and anger and the urge to kill, kill, kill- were forced back to the dark corners of his mind again.

12) End

Resting a gloved hand on the new grave Liam sighed, "It looks like this is the end, Xerx; I hope it was worth it."

13) Fall

Break listed slowly, almost gracefully, sideways until he fell against Liam, who was so shocked he caught him without even realizing what he was doing; what Lord Barma had told him changed everything, it wasn't just Break falling to pieces against him, it was everything about Break and him that Liam knew falling apart too.

14) Fire

The fire in their relationship wasn't all passion, it was desperation too, the sure knowledge no matter how heartfelt a kiss was, no matter how lingering a touch was, no matter how good this was in the _now_ eventually -soon they knew, but never would let themselves think- it was going to end.

15) Flexible

Break would never admit it but sometimes he enjoyed the fact that Liam was soft and vulnerable and had to protected from things bigger and badder than him; Liam was truly not a fighter, violence was not in his nature -which was fine, Break was perfectly willing to be as violent as he has to be for Liam's sake.

16) Flying

Ever since the first time they'd spoken, when Break had sent him flying with an angry blow, Break had had the power to throw him off balance without the slightest of warnings; not that Liam minded, after a while he had almost came to expect it of the man.

17) Food

They both had a nasty habit of forgetting to eat when in the middle of a project; finally Sharon barged in on a marathon paperwork session with a tray of food and threats of fan application to head if they kept doing this.

18) Foot

Sometimes it was difficult to have one foot in the world of Lord Barma's intrigues and Pandora politics and the other in the realm of Break's little plots but Liam had never expected helping Break would be easy; besides, he was well compensated by the aforementioned Mad Hatter in private for his trouble.

19) Grave

For three whole weeks after the party at Isla Yura's mansion Liam woke screaming, clawing desperately at the air above him and Break had to convince him, each night, that he wasn't just waking up after using March Hare and, no, this wasn't, as he kept dreaming, the inside of a coffin.

20) Green

Liam was so new to the world of deception at first, Break almost didn't want to teach him to lie, to be deceitful, to manipulate; it felt like he was doing something horrible.

21) Head

In a fight Liam's head was his best weapon, he was one of the most resourceful, and one of the most wily, people Pandora had; too bad some fights needed more than clever planning.

22) Hollow

Even if he had killed the Baskervilles that had done it Break knew it would be a hollow victory; with Liam dead in the mansion it didn't matter if he won, he would still lose.

23) Honor

While Liam had the strange honor of playing a staring role in Break's more horrible nightmares -he lay dead, bloody and broken with a Baskerville's laughter echoing through the room- he had no idea that he was in almost as many of Liam's nightmares -he was dead, dissolving into dust, drained to nothing by his chain.

24) Hope

They all knew that Break would die quite soon, he never let them forget the fact, but for some reason Liam could never completely suppress a hope that it wouldn't happen; not for a while yet.

25) Light

His vision all too quickly dimmed down until the only thing Break could see of him was the occasional glint of light off of his glasses; but he knew if reached out Liam would be there, familiar and the same, under his fingers.

26) Lost

Until that brief hour that Liam had been lost, not only to him but to the world forever, Break had never thought he could be angry enough to summon a killing rage; but with Liam a sad corpse in the basement Break was ready to _kill them all _and damn the consequences.

27) Metal

The metal of the pistol Break hands him is cold in his hand and Liam grimaces with distaste, "I'm not going to need this, it's a _party_, Xerxes,"; the smile Break gives him replies that one can never be too careful.

28) New

Their lips touched and it was like they had been building toward this moment all along, all those years, and this was, in the end, just an inevitable new addition to the way things were.

29) Old

Liam represented time for the three of them, the only one of their little group that hadn't been frozen forever at one age; Break (and he suspected, Sharon too) would look at Liam, noting the new lines, the added height, the sense of wear and be reminded that they too were getting older.

30) Peace

Break getting hurt was a fairly regular occurrence, it went without too much mention, but on the rare occasion Liam was hurt it somehow broke the peace in between them and made everything uncertain and raw again.

31) Poison

It wasn't until much later that Break found out the poison in the tea had been meant for him and not Liam, who had inadvertently drunk tea poured from the pot before he had, but he hunted down and killed the Baskerville agent who had done it anyway; Liam had been been horribly sick for a three days and Break not one to let the hurting of one he had claimed as his go lightly.

32) Pretty

There is a reason that Liam is not wearing a pretty, polite smile but a rather strained one in the picture taken at Lord Oscar's impromptu tea party; that reason has a direct connection with the rather smug, satisfied smile on Break's face, the fact that he was, very wickedly, stepping on Liam's foot.

33) Rain

Rain made Liam tired and grouchy; it did the same to Break but the other man always took pains to hide it by acting as cheerful as he could, something that never failed to drive Liam insane.

34) Regret

With Xerxes looking lost and betrayed, even when seen upside-down and from the ground, Liam truly regretted keeping the power of the March Hare chain a secret from even him.

35) Roses

There was no way it was going to come up all roses for either of them in the end. It was impossible.

36) Secret

It was exceedingly unfair that Break had kept all manner of secrets from him and acted as if that was only to be expected but the moment at Liam _dared_ keep one from him it was the cause of a massive hissy fit from Break.

37) Snakes

Vincent's hand curled around his throat like a snake, his hold gentle -but only for the moment, "Now, now, Mister Liam; surely I can persuade you tell me _something_ about what your Xerxes Break is up to."

38) Snow

The falling snow is cold in his hair but Liam's hand in warm in his so it really doesn't matter all that much that he can't feel his toes, Break is enjoying this far too much to let something like the cold ruin the moment.

39) Solid

Liam had no solid idea of what it was that Break was trying to do, the man wouldn't tell even _him_ that, but he was willing to throw his lot in with Break all the same, just to see where the end of the road led to.

40) Spring

Some evenings the old sullenness would spring from nowhere and Liam would have to coax and cajole Xerxes into a better mood, reminding him with little things -fingers running through his hair, his lips on the sensitive place between his neck and shoulder, the lightest touch of his hand- that he wasn't alone, not anymore.

41) Stable

Even if he was wounded and his breath sounded ragged and pained to Break's ears Liam was _alive_, and here at his bedside the world was stable again.

42) Stab

If Liam had to take a wild stab at Break's age he would have guessed forty -going on _three_.

43) Summer

In the summer of their relationship they planned and plotted, loved and touched, and tried to keep all thought of all the darker days ahead of them away with thoughts of the warm and lovely here and now.

44) Taboo

The subject of the illegal contractor's mark on his chest was quietly off limits between them, even after that visit to Barma; Break had never told Liam not to ask but there were some things that Liam didn't have to be told to know.

45) Ugly

There is an ugly twist to Liam's mouth sometimes when he speaks of his master and it takes a long time for Break to decide whether he really wants to know the reason behind it

46) War

It was a war against the Baskervilles, despite the fact that Pandora was being stupidly blind about the whole thing, Break could see the way things were going to go and wanted to maneuver Liam out of as much danger as he could; too bad Liam wasn't content to stand by and let himself be safely put out of the way.

47) Water

There was a memorable morning, sometime after mornings were shared between them, that Break rigged the door to dump a pailful of water on the first person that opened it, knowing it would be Liam that went out into the hall first -Liam would have strangled him if he hadn't been too busy laughing.

48) Welcome

For reasons that Break himself wasn't even sure of Liam was welcome to go places and do things that he would have killed anyone else for; the why still confused Break, but Liam always acted like it made perfect sense to him so Break pretended he understood it too.

49) Winter

In the winter of their relationship Break coughed blood and withered and it looked like he was going to die, in the coldest days they finally came to the realization that this was the end, they had run out of time and if they wanted to finish Break's Quest before he was gone they were going to have to hurry.

50) Wood

The wood of Break's cane connected with the side of his head, so hard Liam staggered a few steps, "Don't you ever scare me like that, again!" Break hissed, single eye furious, "Ever, ever, _ever_ or I will… I will… kill you!"


End file.
